Prof gave me better grade than I deserved?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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The score that I received on my test doesn't seem to reflect the number I got wrong. However, the score is written directly on the test so I'm not sure how he could have missed anything. Sometimes he does take away 1-2 questions if a lot of people got them wrong in totalling our score but I still feel like I would be 2 points lower than what I got. I almost want to ask how he graded it but if I do that I think the only thing that could come out of it is me getting a lower score. What would you do in this situation? I think I'm leaning towards asking just cause it seems like the ethical thing to do...

I cannot fathom a professor being annoyed with a student attempting to be honest even if it's not to their benefit.

Really? I totally can! Professors have enough to deal with with the excuse makers, absentees, people complaining about low grades, people wanting profs to write them recommendations, people wanting to meet with them at all hours, grading hundreds of papers, dealing with idiots in class, etc. Add on someone who is questioning a high grade...I could see someone being annoyed and wondering why they didn't just take the grade with a smile.

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Sorry, I go to a small private school so I guess we have a different relationship with our professor's. I don't think theres anything wrong with honesty and good ethics which I thought the op was trying to have :)

Sorry, I go to a small private school so I guess we have a different relationship with our professor's. I don't think theres anything wrong with honesty and good ethics which I thought the op was trying to have :)

I also went to a small private school. I also don't think there's anything wrong with honesty and good ethics. I just don't see how someone can't imagine a professor having better things to do than make sure they didn't give too *high* a grade to someone. It's like saying a parent who doesn't want to play pretend and read picture books all day is a bad parent if they need a break from it. Of course they love their kids, like most teachers love teaching their students, but they are only human.

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

geez I said I was sorry and didn't mean anything by it

Oh me either! I was just clarifying. You seemed to think that I was advocating not being ethical, while I was just stating that going to a professor with something like that may be an additional task they don't want to deal with. I wouldn't want you, or anyone else, thinking that I advocate dishonesty.

What if the questions were weighted differently? I know in a LOT of my exams one question may be worth 1 pt, while others will be worth 3 or 4. Maybe you got partial credit? Ask away, but like someone else mentioned, do it in private during office hours, NOT in front of the entire class.

That's a great point and seems very logical.

I think that people that pride themselves in doing the right thing get it back in the future, you do not want to question yourself about it later. What I would do is think "if I sought out advice about this then maybe that is the key that I should say something." The worst thing that is going to happen is that you might get the extra points taken off...and you will still know that you did the right thing.

This is a different situation but think about if a clerk at the gas station gave you 5 extra dollars. You could keep it because if you didn't notice then you would have kept it without knowing. But what if that person got fired because their drawer was short? I think that this doesn't have much to do with your situation :p but it's just an example I always use with ethical discussions.

Plus if you ask then you might feel the need to study harder next time and possibly could result in a better grade. Either way. I don't see this as unethical, because he marked what was incorrect, right? But you will probably feel better at the end of the day/or course because you did the right thing, regardless of the result, that always feels better than the tiny bit of guilt in your stomach.

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Oh I really didn't mean that sorry if I came off that way. Thanks :D

Oh I really didn't mean that sorry if I came off that way. Thanks :D

Me either. It's hard to get tone across sometimes online. No worries! :up:

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